pigeonhole
Americannoun
-
one of a series of small, open compartments, as in a desk, cabinet, or the like, used for filing or sorting papers, letters, etc.
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a hole or recess, or one of a series of recesses, for pigeons to nest in.
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Also called white hole. Also called pigeon hole,. Printing. white space created by setting words or lines too far apart.
verb (used with object)
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pigeonholes,
present (3rd person singular)
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pigeonholed,
past participle, past
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pigeonholing
present participle
-
to assign to a definite place or to definite places in some orderly system.
to pigeonhole new ideas.
- Synonyms:
- catalog, categorize
-
to lay aside for use or reference at some later, indefinite time.
We must pigeonhole this excellent plan until the time is ripe.
- Synonyms:
- file
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to put aside for the present, especially with the intention of ignoring or forgetting, often indefinitely.
to pigeonhole an unwanted invitation.
-
to place in or as if in a pigeonhole or pigeonholes.
to pigeonhole papers.
-
to fit or provide with pigeonholes.
The desk must be pigeonholed for all my papers.
noun
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a small compartment for papers, letters, etc, as in a bureau
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a hole or recess in a dovecote for pigeons to nest in
-
informal a category or classification
verb
-
to put aside or defer
-
to classify or categorize, esp in a rigid manner
Other Word Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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pigeonholesimple
-
pigeonholessimple
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have pigeonholedperfect
-
has pigeonholedperfect
-
am pigeonholingprogressive
-
are pigeonholingprogressive
-
is pigeonholingprogressive
-
have been pigeonholingperfect progressive
-
has been pigeonholingperfect progressive
Past
-
pigeonholedsimple
-
had pigeonholedperfect
-
was pigeonholingprogressive
-
were pigeonholingprogressive
-
had been pigeonholingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of pigeonhole
Explanation
A pigeonhole is a small nesting area for a pigeon, or a similarly cozy compartment or alcove. If you feel like you're stuck in a restrictive category — only thought of as someone's sister, for example — that's another kind of pigeonhole. A cubbyhole in your desk is one kind of pigeonhole, and the little box where a domesticated pigeon sleeps is another. These original meanings date from the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. By the 1870s, pigeonhole had also come to mean "an overly simplistic or restrictive category," and also "to assign someone to a rigid category." So when you assume that a circus clown couldn't also be a brilliant mathematician, you have pigeonholed him.
Vocabulary lists containing pigeonhole
The Legislative Branch, Sections 4–6
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Accountable
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
To see how we’ve evolved from the era of pigeonhole desks to today’s Zoom calls, it’s worth taking a close look at 10 landmark inventions.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 15, 2025
"Aerospace has something for people with different backgrounds, different qualifications, there's so much variety. So don't pigeonhole yourself, there really is something for everyone here."
From BBC ● Jul. 18, 2025
Although we might pigeonhole them into this genre, they’re very versatile and talented.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 5, 2025
I’ve noticed that messages from readers increasingly tend to pigeonhole, label or categorize.
From Seattle Times ● Apr. 13, 2024
She had read the name Dr. Lister off a pigeonhole on the wall behind him, because if you pretend you know someone, they’re more likely to let you in.
From "The Subtle Knife" by Philip Pullman
Somewhere along the way if you're a young actor coming up, you can bet there are pigeonholes for everyone.
From Salon ● Aug. 24, 2024
From left: Withings ScanWatch, Fossil Hybrid HR, Skagen Jorn, Fossil Gen 6 Hybrid What bothers me about the Stella design is how it somewhat pigeonholes your style.
From The Verge ● Jul. 16, 2022
Everything that’s wrong with this place is the way we put everyone in pigeonholes.
From The Guardian ● Feb. 8, 2020
“It pigeonholes you. I remember having a conversation with my dad in ’74.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 13, 2019
Amy’s chief delight was an Indian cabinet, full of queer drawers, little pigeonholes, and secret places, in which were kept all sorts of ornaments, some precious, some merely curious, all more or less antique.
From "Little Women" by Louisa May Alcott
Steinem said that she was pigeonholed because of the story.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 5, 2026
But one gets the sense that Thatcher’s worried about being pigeonholed.
From Salon ● Aug. 17, 2026
Sometimes pigeonholed as just a goalscorer, Haaland has 24 assists in three seasons for Manchester City in the Premier League and Europe, compared with 26 at Bayern for Kane.
From BBC ● Jul. 9, 2026
Many actors are pigeonholed by a successful TV series.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 19, 2026
Second, developmental sequences are not invariant, so examples pigeonholed under the same stage are inevitably heterogeneous.
From "Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies" by Jared M. Diamond
Points, too, for the solid casting, from the leads’ tricky pivoting from openness to caginess, to the criminally underseen Wasikowska, who navigates maternal complexities of worry and compassion that confound easy pigeonholing.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 19, 2026
Raphael Benza, head of Johannesburg-based record label Vth Season, says the very name Best African Performance goes against pigeonholing.
From BBC ● Feb. 1, 2025
He no longer felt like the “Baby” singer everyone was so hellbent on pigeonholing him as.
From Salon ● Dec. 21, 2024
I was intrigued then when the pollster YouGuv, in combination with The Economist magazine, decided to take pigeonholing to a whole different level.
From Seattle Times ● Apr. 13, 2024
It offers no nifty formulas for pigeonholing people or decoding folkways and manners.
From "Class Matters" by The New York Times
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
